England's junior doctors have begun another 24-hour strike

Junior doctors in England are beginning a second 24-hour strike in protest at the new contract that Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, is threatening to impose on them.

At least 2,884 non-urgent operations have been cancelled, as well as an unknown number of consultations at outpatient clinics, before the show of strength by many of England's 45,000 junior doctors.

Wednesday's walkout follows the breakdown of last-ditch talks between the British Medical Association, NHS Employers and the Department of Health over the shape of the new contract that all juniors in England will operate under from August.

On Tuesday night, BMA junior doctor leader Johann Malawana accused the government of blocking a deal. "We presented [a] fully costed and working solution that was rejected due to pride and politics," he tweeted.

Negotiations have become deadlocked over the issue of whether some or all of Saturday should become part of a trainee doctor's normal working week.

Sir David Dalton - the chief executive of Salford Royal NHS foundation trust, who has been drafted in by the government to broker a deal - has been holding discussions with BMA representatives and officials from NHS Employers in a bid to avert industrial action.

However, the health department said the informal talks concluded on Tuesday and the BMA said the strike was going ahead as planned. Junior doctors - all doctors below consultant level - will provide emergency care only from 8am on Wednesday during the 24-hour walkout.

The action comes as leaked NHS figures indicate that the number of young medics applying to continue their career in the health service by becoming specialists has plunged to a new low, appearing to bear out fears that the dispute will hit recruitment.

Doctors' leaders have described the figures as "very bad for the NHS", especially as it is already struggling with shortages of key medical personnel in a number of areas, such as general practice and A&E.

Figures compiled by Health Education England, the NHS's medical training and education body, and passed to the Guardian show that the number of Foundation Year 2 (F2), who have applied to start training as a specialist in a branch of medicine next August in the NHS, has fallen to just 15,855, a figure that is 1,251 fewer than in 2013 - a 9.2% drop - and 453 fewer than the 16,308 who applied last year, a 2.83% decrease.

The number of F2 doctors seeking to become family doctors has fallen particularly sharply. Only 4,863 such medics have applied to train as GPs from this August - 24.65% fewer than the 6,447 who did so as recently as 2013.

Hunt refused on Tuesday to deny reports that he has personally scuppered a deal that was acceptable to the BMA and NHS Employers and would have ended the five month-long dispute.

The health secretary said in the H ouse of Commons: "The only reason we do not have a solution on the junior doctors is the BMA saying in December that it would negotiate on the one outstanding issue - pay on Saturdays - but last month refusing to negotiate. If the BMA is prepared to negotiate and be flexible on that, so are we."

In a public statement issued on Sunday, the BMA said that it had been clear throughout the process that it wanted to reach a negotiated agreement.

"No doctor wants to take industrial action, and our door has always been open to talks," it said. "But the government is putting politics before reason, and their continued threat to impose a contract that junior doctors have roundly rejected leaves us with no option."

The Independent newspaper claims to have seen a poll of junior doctors in which nearly 90% say they would resign if the new contract was imposed. The poll asked junior doctors if they were "prepared to consider resignation in the face of imposition of the contract in its current form". Of 1,045 junior doctors who responded to a survey by the online junior doctor network, 922 said they would.